As you can probably guess by now, I am currently dissecting Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, so expect further quoting from this book. “Act without doing; work without effort. Think of the small as large and the few as many. Confront thedifficult while it is still easy; accomplish the great task by a series of small acts. The Master never reaches for the great; thus she achieves greatness. When she runs into a difficulty, she stops and gives herself to it. She doesn’t cling to her comfort; thus problems are no problem for her” (1).

We forget to enjoy the present in favour of the future

Short-term goals only. When we cling to long-term goals, we forget to enjoy the present in favour of the future, but what happens when we eventually achieve that goal? It’s temporary. The present is all that we have, so why waste it thinking too far into the future? We could end up looking back as resentful millionaires wishing to be young and broke. Enjoy what you have now, money will come and go but you’re only young and free once. Writing this newsletter each week, I grapple with this as I allow myself, sometimes, to daydream into the future of what might happen: the newsletter is a success, I make lots of money, I become popular or perhaps famous. However, I must consciously wake myself up as it’s the process that is truly meaningful to me. The words I am writing now. Whilst it is difficult to repeatedly sit down and force myself to read, research and write, I enjoy it. I enjoy the slow and painful steps I am taking to create meaning in my life and others.

This newsletter is a project of two intentions: one is to analyse myself in order to portray what methods, strategies and mindsets I occupy in order to sit down everyday and write the words you are reading now. Secondly, it’s a project to make myself better as whilst I am a productive person, I am also a severely flawed person. I give myself in to compulsive and unhealthy tendencies instead of acknowledging and exploring the traumatic reasons for which I feel the need to soothe negative feelings. It’s a project to explore what others have explored before me and put it into a package useful for others and myself. I must consciously acknowledge the small steps, the series of small acts that will eventually produce the large. The few pages I write this week are part of the many pages that will complete this project.

Keep On Struggling

Gregor

Cultural Icon I’m Fascinated By - Rick Rubin

Rick Rubin is an American recorder producer who co-founded Def Jam Records, founded American Recordings and was the former co-president of Columbia Records (3). He has worked with a massive range of artists ranging from Slayer to Eminem to Adele to The Red Hot Chilli Peppers to Johnny Cash. He is one of the most creative and insightful people on the planet. I’ve bought his book The Creative Act and have listened to three podcasts with him as the guest including The Joe Rogan Experience, The Tim Ferriss Show and The Huberman Lab Podcast. I’d recommend listening to all of these and if these conversations are anything to go by, I recommend Rubin’s book as well.

Music Production Company I’m Loving - Two Steps From Hell

Two Steps From Hell write music for movie trailers including some of thebiggest blockbusters. However their original albums are sensational. The genre is described as ‘epic movie music’ which makes it perfect for working out or running. If you’re looking for some epic motivation, give them a listen now.

Quote to Ponder

Bureaucracy is the art of making the possible impossible - Javier Pascual Salcedo

References

1) Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu

2) Image Credit - Rawpixel

3) Wikipedia

4) Rick Rubin Image - Complex.com

5) Two Steps From Hell Image - Apple Music